Out in the Open
by WolfAsh
Summary: While the seventh year Marauders try to solve their teenage problems, a dark force is growing outside their safe walls of Hogwarts which they cannot even begin to understand.


_**Chapter 1**_

**Becca's POV**

_This is it. The last year. Everything is going to change._ I stared at the scarlet steam engine sitting in front of me at station platform blowing off steam, for one last time. Among all the hustle and bustle, Hogwarts students were running around, saying good-bye to families, greeting their friends and loading their trunks onto the train.

"Becca, I'm going to have to leave soon, dear. I hope you have an amazing 7th year. Make the best out of it," my mom told me as she gave me one last hug and a kiss on the head before letting me go. My mom was my best friend and we looked after one another, always had. Her and my dad had had a horrible relationship based on the fact that she hadn't told him that she was a witch till long after they were married. After they had me, in fact. He found out the same time I had, I think I was about 8. He thought we were both mental, but my mom stayed with him because she claimed she loved him. I didn't understand how she could if he wouldn't accept us for who we were, but after years of coaxing, I finally got her to divorce him my fifth year. She's been the happiest I've ever seen her since.

"I love you Mom. I'll be home soon. I won't forget to write," I returned the hug with a squeeze. She let go and gave me one last wave before apparating off the station platform. I grabbed my trunk and my owl, Thompson, and started looking for my two best friends.

Lily Evans was easy to spot. I found the flaming redhead a few yards away looking like she had just run though the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. She was by herself because all her family members were muggles and could not pass through the barrier. Lily was a Gryffindor like me and was probably one of the smartest people I knew. She had been appointed as Head Girl over summer and was quite excited about it. Her mom and dad were probably some of the nicest people that I had met, completely unlike my father. They loved her so much and were so proud of her for being a witch. Lily also had a sister, named Petunia, who had been her best friend growing up, until Lily had received her Hogwarts letter and found out that she was a witch. Petunia had hated her ever since because of all the attention Lily received from their parents. Lily had been hurt for a long time, and I still thought it bothered her how her sister didn't accept her as who she was, but she didn't let it show anymore.

"Lily!" I called across the platform. She heard her name called but it took her a few seconds to figure out where it came from. I started waving my arms to get her attention, excited to see my friend. She finally saw me and came running over to give me one of the biggest hugs she could manage.

"Becca! I missed you. How was your summer?" We chatted for awhile, while we waited for some of the students to get on the train. We got caught up on some of the things that we did over the summer, while still looking for our other friend Carly.

"Do you think we should find a compartment before they're all full?" Lily asked me after awhile. "I bet Carly's with Remus." Remus Lupin was Carly's boyfriend of 2 years. They started dating our fifth year which took a lot of coaxing but they both were crazy about each other and probably one of the cutest couples in our year.

"Yeah, she probably is. Let's go get one and she'll find us on the train. But aren't you supposed to go have a meeting with all the new Prefects?" I asked her as we made our way onto the train.

"I don't have to be there until the train leaves the platform. I'll wait with you until Carly gets here. I want to see her before I have to leave." We wandered down the train, saying hello to friends that we hadn't seen since last year, still with no sign of Carly. We finally found an empty compartment, halfway down the train so we put our things down and sat down.

"BECCA! LILY!" A scream came from a small blonde-head girl. Carly had finally found us. Lily and I jumped out of our seats and the three of us all had our little reunion; hugs all around. We started laughing and giggling until I realized that Carly hadn't been by herself.

Remus was standing at the door, looking a little less pale and less skinny than normal. The full moon must not have been close. Remus Lupin was a werewolf. Carly, Lily and I all found out last year. It was the one real fight Remus and Carly had ever had. Remus hadn't wanted Carly to know about his condition so he would tell her every month that his mom was sick or he was sick or some other excuse that would allow him to disappear for a few days. One of these times, Carly found out that he had been lying to her and they got into an awful fight and eventually he told Carly the truth, and me and Lily had overheard. Carly accepted him for who he was and they've been together ever since. A really cute story I guess, if you're into that kind of stuff.

Behind Remus stood his three best friends and a random girl I had never met before. Remus Lupin, James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew were inseparable. You hardly saw one without the other. The four of them were Gryffindors like me, Lily and Carly. For some reason, they called themselves the Marauders and were the biggest trouble makers Hogwarts had seen in many years.

James Potter had messy dark hair and glasses. Despite his total lack of seeming to care for school, he was actually pretty smart. James had this one problem; he was completely obsessed with Lily. Everyone in the entire school knew that James had had a crush on Lily since his first few years at Hogwarts. James tried everything he could to woo her, but failed miserably every miserably every time. Most times he tried to impress her, James ended up embarrassing or injuring Lily in the process. Lily had know feelings for James whatsoever, except for thinking of him as "an arrogant toe rag." I didn't think that James was as horrible as Lily thought. He was my date to a dance we had our fifth year and I had a better time than I thought I would have. Towards the end of the year last year, James had seemed to start to give up on Lily and had stopped asking her out every second that he had. Lily was really hoping that he had finally given up. _Maybe he had._ I had just noticed that he was holding hands with the new girl.

Standing on the other side of Remus was Peter Pettigrew. Peter was a short, chubby boy who I really felt did not belong in their group of friends. Peter looked up to Remus, James and Sirius as his heroes. He tagged along with them everywhere, always with food in hand. I had always felt that something wasn't right with him but I tried to stay away from him whenever I could.

The third boy standing in front of us was the gum under my shoe, Sirius Black. _Jackass._ Black was the "ladies man" around school, though I really didn't see how girls could like him. He wasn't that good-looking and was a complete git. I had hated his guts ever since the first day at Hogwarts first year. The marauders, namely him, had played their first prank ever on me. Sirius had flipped me up in the air, showing off my undies to all the first years. In return, I turned him hot pink. We had been worst enemies ever since that night and the prank war hadn't ended. Black was James best friend so since James was so obsessed with Lily, I ended up having to deal with Black all the time. I usually just tried to imagine him as dirt on the wall next to James; however, Black sometimes never let that happen. He always had something to say whenever I was involved.

"Hey Remus," I said when I noticed the boys standing there. "James, Peter." Lily looked up and saw them too and said hello. I noticed her gaze glance over James's hand holding the girls arm and saw her lips curve up slightly. I knew she was thinking that she'd probably finally be rid of James.

"Hi, I'm Lily Evans. I don't think we've met," Lily greeted the girl with a huge smile and extended her arm for a handshake.

"I'm Sarah Richardson," she replied. Sarah was a pretty brunette with green eyes. She barely came up to James's elbows and had on Ravenclaw colors. "I'm a sixth year."

James was listening to their conversation and watching Lily's reactions closely. "So, Lily, are you ready to head to the Prefect meeting?"

Lily's smile faded from her face. "What are you talking about Potter? You aren't a Prefect."

James grinned and puffed out his chest. "Dumbledore made me Head Boy. Didn't you know?" Sure enough there was a tiny silver badge on his chest with the letters "HB." He wasn't lying. I looked at Lily and her face had no happiness left.

"Why would Dumbledore appoint _you _Head Boy? You weren't even a Prefect. Remus was." She glanced at Remus, who gave a shrug. "You don't deserve to be Head Boy. You get detention every week and probably have a record for breaking the most rules at Hogwarts."

"I don't know Lily," James replied still smiling. "Why don't you just ask Dumbledore when we get to Hogwarts? In the meantime, we've got somewhere to be, so are you coming?"

Lily glared at him and then looked at me and Carly. I had no idea how to help her get out of this situation. So I gave her a shrug and nodded towards the door.

"Coming?" James said again.

"Hmf." Lily jumped out of her seat, pushed through the boys and stormed out the door towards the front of the train. James ran after her, dragging an unhappy Sarah along with him.

"Well that definitely ruined Lily's year," Carly told me as we watched her storm off. I nodded in agreement, unsure of if James would even survive till the end of the year, having to deal with the wrath of Lily Evans.

**Sirius's POV**

James Potter was never going to woo Lily Evans. Not after six years of trying. I still couldn't believe that he hadn't given up on her yet. I guess he's just one for the chase. Lily hated his guts. His current method of trying to woo her was to pretend to be over her and pretty much ignore her. He started this at the end of last term and had even started to date someone else. I thought Sarah was just the first girl he found that had tried flirting with him. After six years of being James's best mate, I still didn't know how that man's brain worked. I also don't think he planned on being Head Boy and having to work with her all the time. Sometimes I thought he was a brainless git at times, at least when it comes to girls, but maybe he had this grand master plan that I didn't know about. All I knew was that it wasn't working.

James left with Lily and Sarah to go to the Prefects meeting at the front of the train. I still couldn't believe that Dumbledore had picked James to be Head Boy. At least I'd maybe manage to stay out of detention more with him watching the corridors. Remus, Peter and I stood at the front of the girls' compartment while Carly and Carlton talked about Lily and James.

"Remus, can we go?" Carly had pretty much forgotten that Remus was even there.

"Why don't you guys share a compartment with us?" Carly asked suddenly realizing that we were standing outside. I gave her a look and I was pretty sure Carlton gave her the same one. "Jeez, Becca, Sirius would you two please grow up? It's been six freaking years!" I glared at her again.

"Sirius, I'm going to stay with Carly. You and Peter are welcome to go find another compartment if you want." I looked at Peter. He had been acting kind of strange the whole afternoon. We'd asked him about his summer and he only gave us one word answers and avoided our eye contact. I had never seen him look so shady before. I didn't think I could handle hours of silence from Peter. Remus always had to make things difficult.

"Well, I'd better stay and watch your back. You never know what evil is lurking in Carlton's mind." Staying would also give me an advantage over Carlton because I had already come up with a prank to get a one up over her before the start of the semester. I glared at Carlton and took a seat across from her in the compartment. Peter took one next to me.

I listened to their mindless chatter about their summers, all the while thinking of when I'd get the chance to lay down my prank. I could feel Carlton's glare beating down the side of my neck as I was trying to avoid looking at her. I didn't understand who the others could stand to be around all the anger that the two of us emitted when being in the same room. I mean, Remus could at least sit with me in a different room so he wouldn't have to deal with it.

The topic of conversation had finally changed to the subject that I knew the two girls wanted to hit. James Potter and Sarah Richardson.

"So, what's with the girl that James was with?" Carlton asked Remus and Peter.

"You know, that's a good question. I don't really understand what he's trying to do. I'm not sure that he even likes the girl. Sirius, you probably know more than I do," Remus replied and looked towards me. I couldn't believe that he was trying to get me to answer a question that Carlton had asked. I really could care less if the girl knew how James worked. I glared at him but everyone was looking at me for an answer so I gave in.

"Well, last year he decided to try something new and stop paying attention to Lily. Like forget that she existed or whatever. I guess he's hoping that she'll realize what she's missing now that he's stopped annoying the shit out of her. He didn't tell me about Sarah till a few days ago. Apparently they ran into each other in Diagon Alley and had been staying in touch till today. He hasn't told me if he really likes her or if he's just using her to show Lily that he's forgotten about her. He didn't really plan on becoming Head Boy and having to work with her all the time. That's about all I know, but don't tell him I said anything about this plan."

I finished this at exactly the right time because James and Sarah had showed up back at the compartment.

"You guys mind if we join you," James asked.

"Aren't you supposed to be doing rounds around the train?" Remus asked, giving him a look.

"Oh, I left Lily to do that. She was steaming mad the whole meeting and I thought it would be best to get away from her for awhile." Wow, he really was trying to ignore her. James usually wanted to spend every waking moment he could with Lily. He and Sarah flopped down on the empty spot on the bench next to me and the two informed us on the new prefects and the new things that were being enforced this year.

"Hey guys, I'll be right back." Carlton had finally gotten up from her seat. It was finally time to put my prank into action. As she left the compartment, I muttered a charm I had been practicing for awhile. It makes an object turn invisible and it was aimed directly at her skirt. I was not really sure why I always went for underpants pranks at the beginning of the year. I guess it was a tradition. I couldn't see the full affects of the prank because she had walked out of site but I knew my spell had worked. I sat and waited for the screaming match that would take place as soon as she got back.

A few minutes later I saw her walking down the aisle with Lily laughing about something. _Did it not work?_ She should have been fuming mad.

"Wow, Black. I you really are starting to be predictable. I expected better from you." I looked down and saw that she had put a pair of leggings on under her skirt that I hadn't noticed which had saved her any embarrassment that might have occurred. The two giggling girls took the only empty seats left in the compartment.

"Really, another panties prank. I expected better Padfoot," James muttered to me. I glared at him and suddenly I wasn't sorry that I had told everyone else about his Lily plan. Though, thinking about it, Carlton had been predicting my pranks recently. At the end of last year, I hadn't pulled off as many successful pranks as usual. _What was wrong with me?_

The rest of the train ride, I sat and brooded in my corner of the compartment, trying to think of an unforgettable prank to pull on Carlton. I couldn't let it show that I might be going soft. She was not going to win this war.

The Hogwarts Express had finally arrived at Hogsmeade Station. I was mindlessly packing up all my things while still thinking of a great prank. I dropped my trunk off in the pile of all the others that would be taken up to the school later.

Then, it hit me. I had the greatest prank ever and it would sure show Carlton. It seemed like fireworks were going off in my head.

"Hey Sirius, isn't that your trunk," James had grabbed my arm and was shaking me back to reality. There really were fireworks going off, coming out of my trunk.

"I'd say sorry about your things, Black, but I'm really not," Carlton smiled as she walked past me to get into one of the carriages.

I stood there speechless staring at the fireworks show coming straight out of my trunk. Carlton was so going to pay.

**A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed this. Its been awhile since I've written anything and I'm really hoping to get back into it. Please review! Thanks for reading~WolfAsh**


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